Friday, January 10

The Weekly Shtikle - Beshalach

At the end of the parsha, B'nei Yisrael defeat Amaleik in a battle, though the war is still not won. Following the victory, Moshe is told to instruct Yehoshua about the eventual destruction of Amaleik. Rashi (17:14) comments that here it was hinted to Moshe that he would not bring B'nei Yisrael into Eretz Yisrael but rather Yehoshua would bring them in. However, the passage does not appear to contain anything pertaining to the entrance into Eretz Yisrael. Is it not possible that Moshe is just instructing Yehoshua because he is the general? Where exactly is the hint?

I suggest that when HaShem told Moshe "K'sov zos zikaron baseifer, vesim be'oznei Yehoshua," it is not simply referring to the words that followed but he was also told to relay to him the parsha of Amalek that we find at the end of Ki Seitzei, the text of Parshas Zachor. There it speaks specifically about the events following the entrance into Eretz Yisrael, (Devarim 25:19) "It shall be that when HaShem, your God, gives you rest from all your enemies..." Perhaps, there was the hint, that Yehoshua alone will witness those events and not Moshe.

This approach (that Moshe gave over the parsha of "zachor" at this time) is supported by Kol Eliyahu on this pasuk. He writes that Moshe was told to "place in the ears of Yehoshua" the proper pronunciation - zeicher Amaleik, as opposed to Yoav's erroneous mesorah, zachar Amaleik. [As a side point, it was deciphered in Peninim MiShulchan HaGR"A that the GR"A himself is not the actual source of this piece but rather, it came from R' Chaim of Volozhin.]